I stare at Meredith open mouthed. She couldn’t have surprised me more if she had said that she wasn’t a werewolf, but shifted into Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Second chance mate? Are you freaking kidding me? Sev is stuttering beside me, his hand clutching mine. “What…what do…how…why?” Each time that he starts a sentence, he doesn’t seem to know how to finish and he eventually stops. Meredith gives us some time to come to grips with what she just told us. She waits until Sev stops talking before she begins again. Rubbing her eyes with her fingers and then running her hands through her hair, she sits up straight and lets out a sigh. Her hands dance in the air as she explains, almost as if she’s got to move to get her message out. “Ok, here’s how Selene explained it to me. Your bond with Rin severed long ago, soon after the Black Night Pack fucked with you guys. When she stopped feeling the bond towards you, it was as if she rejected you. You still felt the bond be

We finish breakfast before a young witch comes to collect us. He asks us to follow him to the conference room to meet the High Priestess and some of her minions - I mean the other coven leaders. Be nice, Charlie. Zak links me. Why? This bitch not only insulted us as werewolves, but she also insulted one of our friends. That and I just don’t like her. I link back. Not the biggest fan of her either, but we’ve gotta make nice for now. We’ve gotta get help about this Riding Hood situation. Fine. But she better keep her tongue civil. Karamea and Sandra have already come up with five different ways to shove her broomstick in a variety of orifices. Preferably with the broomstick on fire. Zak laughs aloud, breaking the silence as we follow the witch to the conference room and garnering several confused looks. As we walk up to the door, it opens without anyone touching it. Fairly impressive from our standpoint, but Bella looks almost bored. “Parlor tricks,” she whispers to

Case asks me to meet Meredith out in the woods. He says that he and Sev will meet me at the edge of the property to show me where to go. Bring coffee. And a shovel? Is this the part where she gets rid of me? I ask through the link, only half joking. This sounds like the preamble to an ax murder scene. The Goddess has a message for us. She already talked with Sev and me. She’s gonna talk to you now. Then, we need to talk. Sev links. That sounds kinda heavy. I link back, grabbing two paper to=go containers and filling them with coffee. Not gonna lie, Fireball, it is. Case is trying to soften the blow with my Dad’s old nickname for me. Well, shit. This is gonna be bad. Ooookay. I’m walking out. See you guys in a minute? I grab a light jacket, stuffing my pockets with little creamers and sugar packets. Slade, Kesha, and Chloe drink a ton of coffee on the go it seems. Yeah. Sev’s voice is sad, nearly despondent. They both cut out the link after that. None of

Once we’re outside of the ugly ass building where we met Celeste and her toadies, we make a quick plan with Bella. We’ll all make our way back to the motel, pack, and head to Bella’s covendom. There, we’ll nail down our alliance and look for another coven of the Mother that will enter into an alliance with us. Michael and Citra can also plan their handfasting ceremony that way. Bella assures us that she has plenty of room for all of us. We make sure to say that we wouldn’t be here long. As soon as Brandon is healed in two days time, we’re leaving. We luckily have enough vehicles for all of us to pack up our things and ride in. After an hour, we are all out of our cars and receiving a blessing from Bella to enter her covendom. We are met by her sister, Iris, who brings a bag with her. In front of each of us, Bella dips a finger into the bag and uses the powder within to draw a trinity knot on our forehead. As she draws the knot, she whispers something so low that even my en

Oh, good. Now I can get every uncomfortable conversation done at once. Then I might go take a nap. I deserve it. Treat yo’self! I quickly but thoroughly explain the deal with Casen, Severen, and Rin and their second chance mates. I mean, I’ve given the spiel twice. I know how to efficiently get the information out there. I’ve just finished talking and am looking around to see what everyone is feeling. Starting on my left sit Chloe, Rin, Slade, Kesha, Severn, and Case ending up on my right. The looks of unadulterated shock on Chloe, Kesha, and Slade’s faces are only matched by the complete misery from Severn and Casen. The only one who seems at ease is Rin. Even I'm more anxious about this than she is. Chloe looks at me, but I can see her sneaking glances at Severn and Casen. “Why would the Goddess do this?” “This has nothing to do with Selene’s will, other than you knowing it early and her wanting you to be happy. This has to do with Rin, Casen, and Severn’s relatio